Citing Colorado as a model for expanding health care to children, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said today that a new pot of federal money will help states cover even more uninsured children.

Sebelius, the former governor of Kansas, during a conference call with Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter announced $40 million in grant money available this year to states to help increase enrollment in the Children’s Health Insurance Plan and Medicaid.

There are about 800,000 Coloradans without health insurance, an estimated 180,000 of which are children.

Ritter’s administration said that through outreach efforts, it has enrolled 67,000 more children in state health coverage since the governor took office in 2007. Sebelius hailed the effort and said other states should look to Colorado for “best practices.”

While Ritter said the increase in enrollment was the result of increased outreach efforts, he also conceded it also was partly due to the flagging economy.

Ritter signed into law this year a measure that is expected to expand Medicaid and CHIP coverage to more than 100,000 Coloradans over several years. The measure imposes a fee on hospitals expected to generate up to $600 million, which, in turn, would draw an equal amount of federal money.

Critics have said the costs ultimately will fall on insured patients, though the new law forbids any actual line item on an insured patient’s bill to pay for the hospital fee.

The federal government plans to award the outreach grants, which will range in size from $25,000 to $1 million, to state and local governments, tribal entities, faith-based organizations and other groups.

Over the next four years, the federal government plans to make $104 million in grants available.

In ways both large and small, the Democrats elected by Coloradans in November are pushing back against the Trump administration, including its policies on sexual misconduct, reproductive rights, climate change, voting rights and immigration.

Kamala Harris, a first-term senator and former California attorney general known for her rigorous questioning of President Donald Trump's nominees, entered the Democratic presidential race on Monday. Vowing to "bring our voices together," Harris would be the first woman to hold the presidency and the second African-American if she succeeds.

Thirty days into the partial government shutdown, Democrats and Republicans appeared no closer to ending the impasse Sunday than when it began, with President Donald Trump lashing out at his opponents after they dismissed a plan he'd billed as a compromise.